Dose-Time Effect of Artificial Colors in Hyperactive Children

Abstract

F our previous studies from our laboratory have provided inconsistent data with respect to the role of artificial food colors on the behavior of hyperactive children. In the first study (Conners, Goyette, Southwick, Lees, & Andrulonis 1976), a significant improvement of behavior was found in children when on a food-additive-free diet compared with a control diet, but the effect was true for only one of the orders of treatment administration. A second study examined the effects of a challenge with artificial colors in a double-blind ABAB crossover (Goyette, Conners, Petti, & Curtis 1977). No effects were found for parental observations, but short-term acute effects were seen in a visual-motor tracking task, suggesting a rapidly acting pharmacologic activity that might have been obscured in parental ratings done twice weekly at the end of the day. A third study, therefore, repeated the double-blind crossover but with daily parental ratings made during the three-hour period immediately following ingestion of the chocolate cookies containing the challenge or placebo. That study found a significant worsening of behavior during the challenge period. Finally, a larger study of an exact replication of the previous study was recently completed, but the results were entirely negative: no differences were found between parental or teacher ratings during the blind challenge or placebo periods. These and other studies have been summarized recently (Conners 1980). The present experiment was conducted to determine if those children apparently most reactive to the food dyes could show a pharmacologic dose-time effect by using more sensitive laboratory instruments and observations than the relatively uncontrolled global instruments previously utilized. METHOD SubjectsNine children who had participated in the previous trials were selected for study: four girls and five boys ranging in age from 5 years to 10 years 6 months and all with normal or higher IQ. During the previous studies eight of these children showed a significant behavioral improvement during the nonblind dietary phase of the trials compared with baseline, as rated by both parents and teachers on the Abbreviated Parent and Teacher Scales. They also showed a differential behavioral response during the challenge and placebo phases of the double-blind trials. One child had not participated in the previous trials but was included because parents reported a marked sensitivity to artificial colors and the child had shown a marked improvement on the Feingold diet carried out by parents.All of the subjects were following the Feingold (KP) diet during this study. They had all been screened by a child psychiatrist and found to satisfy DSM II criteria for hyperkinetic reaction of childhood (308) or DSM III criteria for attentional deficit of childhood. Dependent MeasuresFirst, activity level was measured by two methods.Actometers attached to the nondominant ankle and

Environmental risk factors for attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder

“…The Feingold diet for ADHD was popularized by the media and accepted by many parents of ill children as a testament to this claim. Systematic reviews, however, showed that the diet was not effective and concluded that food additives do not cause ADHD (1).…”

Food Sensitivity and the Nervous System: Hyperactivity, Addiction and Criminal Behaviour

“…In the 1970s and early '~O S , Conners undertook a series of studies assessing the effects of artificial colours on the behaviour of hyperactive children Conners et al , 1980Conners, 1980Conners, , 1981Conners, , 1989). These illustrate very well how, even when conducted by a sound and experienced clinical investigator, positive results in open studies cannot be reproduced with the same frequency in blinded challenge experiments, where placebo effects have been reduced or eliminated.…”

Amounts of Artificial Food Colors in Commonly Consumed Beverages and Potential Behavioral Implications for Consumption in Children

“…To read more about this research see the following reviews: Arnold et al, 2 , Stevens et al, 3 Stevens et al, 4 Kanarek, 5 Weiss, 6 and Millichap and Yee, 7 and a 2012 meta analysis by Nigg et al 8 One thing that seems clear from the behavioral studies is that a greater proportion of children reacted to higher doses (≥50 mg) of AFCs 9-12 than to lower amounts (<50 mg). 13-19 Other important factors were age of the child (younger children were more reactive than older children) and time of evaluation (1-3 hours postchallenge were more revealing than later evaluations). Participants in these studies were thought by their parents to be reactive to AFCs and were diagnosed with “hyperkinesis,” “hyperactivity,” or “behavior problems,” which included restlessness, irritability, and sleep problems.…”